O-G defends well, shoots well in win over Bath

BATH TOWNSHIP — The scouting report on Ottawa-Glandorf’s boys basketball team might have to be adjusted after the Titans’ 63-51 win over Bath on Friday night.

Early in the season, the Titans saw opposing defenses surround their post players and dare the perimeter players to beat them.

But O-G shot 50 percent, including five 3-pointers, on its way to its win on Friday night, its seventh victory in its last eight games.

“What’s happening now is teams can’t just focus totally on our post players. Guys are making shots from the outside and they’re playing a lot more aggressively,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said.

The biggest offensive numbers for O-G (13-5, 6-2 Western Buckeye League) still came from their inside players — 15 points from Logan Koch, 11 points from Noah Bramlage and 10 points and 11 rebounds from Michael Rosebrock.

But starting guard T.J. Metzger delivered 12 points and Jacob Leopold, Cory Imm and John Lammers combined for 14 points from the perimeter off the bench.

All that was welcome for the Titans. But the player McGlaughlin thought might have done the most to turn the game O-G’s way didn’t even get into the scoring column.

“I thought everything started with the way Matthew Kaufman played,” McGlaughlin said. “He put all kinds of ball pressure on them. They want to spread you out, run some sets and get their shooters open. Matt didn’t let them do that at all tonight.”

Bath (13-5, 5-3 WBL) was led by Cole Chambers with 11 points and Nate Heffner with 10 points.

The Wildcats turned the ball over only 11 times, but their top three shooters — Brad Davis, Taren Sullivan and Chambers — combined for only 20 shots.

“They didn’t get a lot of them but the ones they did get, they knocked down,” McGlaughlin said. “We didn’t pressure them to turn it over necessarily, but I think we got them out of their comfort zone. I think we made them play a little bit faster than they wanted to. I thought we kind of wore them down. We can go a little deeper into our bench than they can.”

Bath coach Doug Davis thought the game swung on aggressiveness and Ottawa-Glandorf appeared to him to have more of it than the Wildcats.

“They came out and got after us. They played physical and put a lot of pressure on us and from our perspective we didn’t handle that very well. Teams that have gotten physical with us have given us trouble and we haven’t handled that very well,” he said.

“I thought they played harder and more physical. The basketball team that plays more aggressively usually wins and they were more aggressive tonight.”

The two teams traded leads early before O-G went up 23-20 at halftime. Bath got the lead down to one point early in the third quarter and was still within five points, 46-41, in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

But the Titans went on an 11-0 run that made it 57-41 with three minutes left in the game to hand the Wildcats their second consecutive loss after a 10-game winning streak.

“We still had a chance (in the fourth quarter) but then we gave up some easy baskets,” Davis said.